Remember those long lines and bare shelves?
The hoarding began slowly in spring as forward-thinking shoppers snapped up masks and hand sanitizer. But once Americans realized the pandemic was serious, they emptied stores of just about everything, from toilet paper to canned soup.
With an alarming increase in COVID-19 cases this fall, panic buying could return as worries of a second lockdown spread. Retailers say they’re already seeing the signs and are hopeful they’ll be ready.
Useful article. None of this affected my wife and me much. We’re hermits, anyway. At least by American standards. We go to town once a week…couple hours round trip to two grocers.
We have always maintained backups for dry goods, favorite canned goods. That’s what pantries are for. I grew up on the New England coast. I love all quality-canned seafood.
Eideard 
Shoppers line up at grocery stores leading up to lockdown https://www.krqe.com/news/business/shoppers-line-up-at-grocery-stores-leading-up-to-lockdown/
The owners of a New Mexico ranch are selling meat to anyone who may be unable to find it in the stores. Brandi Jump, the owner of Pueblo Creek Ranch says since meat is flying off the shelves at grocery stores, they could help out by offering it to anyone who is unable to find it.
https://www.krqe.com/health/coronavirus-new-mexico/new-mexico-ranch-provides-meat-when-stores-are-bare/ So, she took to Facebook – offering grass-fed and grain-fed meat from her ranch. “This time is really hard on everybody, so we just put our service, if you need meat, we’ve got some,” said Jump. https://www.facebook.com/brandi.jump/posts/10158308860051677
“Local food (or “locavore”) movements aim to connect food producers and consumers in the same geographic region, to develop more self-reliant and resilient food networks; improve local economies; or to affect the health, environment, community, or society of a particular place.” https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Local_food
“How To Find Your Local Food Sources” https://www.organicauthority.com/live-grow/how-to-find-local-food-sources-farmers-markets
A dozen grocery stores in New Mexico closed in recent weeks due to multiple cases of COVID-19 among workers : The New Mexico Department of Health can close workplaces down for two weeks if they have four or more COVID-19 rapid responses in a 14-day period. https://www.abqjournal.com/1520054/closures-of-nm-groceries-raise-concerns.html
Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham during a news conference Thursday maintained the closures are necessary to prevent the spread of coronavirus at essential businesses.
“You can’t have a grocery store or another big box store that sells groceries if all of the employees or the vast majority of them have COVID. You can’t open up,” she said. “And that’s the issue. … There’s so much of this infection that it’s inside the very places people need to access.”
New Mexico Department of Health spokeswoman Marisa Maez said Thursday the state has discretion when considering the closure of a business, including when the business provides essential goods and services in a community “in light of geographic considerations.” She said the current closures are not considered critical since they’re in communities with “considerable alternatives.”
“We certainly understand these closures may cause temporary inconveniences for shoppers,” she said. “However, the Department of Health is confident that these closures will not impose undue hardship on New Mexicans.”
Amid a pandemic that continues to alter global supply chains, food policy advocates met recently to discuss the future of sustainable agriculture in New Mexico, where “food deserts” have long separated hungry children from healthy lives.
The virtual conference on reimagining New Mexico’s food economy focused on shifting the state’s food chain toward supporting local farmers — a longstanding goal proponents say takes on even greater importance in the wake of the pandemic’s effects on growers and consumers.
“We are advocating for local investment in our agricultural system, because our experience in New Mexico has been anytime anything happened in the central valley of California, it was felt here in New Mexico,” New Mexico Food and Agriculture Policy Council President Helga Garcia-Garza said. “The bigger vision is to be able to continue to feed our state with sustainable and regenerative growing methods.” https://www.usnews.com/news/best-states/new-mexico/articles/2020-12-05/policy-experts-push-greater-support-for-new-mexico-farmers
“Goodbye, U.S.D.A., Hello, Department of Food and Well-Being : It’s time the secretary of agriculture leverages the department’s impact for more than the benefit of agribusiness.” (New York Times) https://www.nytimes.com/2020/12/03/opinion/usda-agriculture-secretary-biden.html
“Stronger local food systems will strengthen N.M.” (Santa Fe New Mexican Dec 12, 2020) https://www.santafenewmexican.com/opinion/editorials/stronger-local-food-systems-will-strengthen-n-m/article_1f124b1e-3bd8-11eb-8c48-5b8135a9b68c.html
“A Sudden Flourishing: New Mexico CSAs and Local Food Subscriptions Services in the time of COVID-19” (Jun 22, 2020) http://www.ediblenm.com/a-sudden-flourishing-new-mexico-csas-and-local-food-subscriptions-services-in-the-time-of-covid-19/
New psychological model predicts who panic-buys during times of crisis (Public Library of Science Jan 29, 2021) https://phys.org/news/2021-01-psychological-panic-buys-crisis.html
Drawing on animal-foraging theory, a new model predicts psychological factors that may lead to panic buying during times of crisis. The model is largely supported by real-world data from the COVID-19 pandemic. Richard Bentall of the University of Sheffield, England, and colleagues presented these findings in the open-access journal PLOS ONE on January 27.
See also: “Pandemic buying: Testing a psychological model of over-purchasing and panic buying using data from the United Kingdom and the Republic of Ireland during the early phase of the COVID-19 pandemic” https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0246339
Vance Packard, 82, Challenger of Consumerism, Dies (NYT 12/13/96) https://www.nytimes.com/1996/12/13/arts/vance-packard-82-challenger-of-consumerism-dies.html
“Mr. Packard first gained national attention with the publication in 1957 of ”The Hidden Persuaders,” which exposed what he saw as the growing and not entirely benign influence of the nation’s advertising industry. Alarmed by new techniques that convinced people to run out and buy things, he detailed advertising’s fascination with the school of consumer analysis known as motivational research.”
“Vance Packard, author of the 50s shock expose of advertising and social control, identified eight hidden needs that we all have.” http://changingminds.org/explanations/needs/packard_needs.htm
Four reasons you’re seeing empty grocery store shelves
The omicron surge, extreme weather and record December sales are among the reasons that toilet paper aisle is looking shaky again (Washington Post) https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/2022/01/11/grocery-store-empty-shelves-again/